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Sea-Bathing 



Its Use and Abuse. 



By GHISLANI DURANT, M. D., Ph. D., 

Member of the American Medical Association, Member of the Medical 

Society of the County of New York, Fellow of the 

New York Academy of Medicine, etc. 




NEW YORK : 

Albert Cogswell, Publisher, 

No. 24 Bond Street. 

1878. 



3f 



Copyright, 

18T8, 

By GHISLANI DURANT. 



PUBLISHER'S NOTICE. 



The following paper first appeared as a series 
of articles in Harper's. As there has been a great 
demand for those numbers, the author has been 
requested to revise the articles, and now offers the 
paper in the present form. 



SEA-BATHING : 

ITS USE AND ABUSE. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The last twenty years have produced a great and 
radical transformation in our mode of life. In exact 
ratio with the increase of wealth have grown our 
wants and habits, the former more numerous, the 
latter more expensive and exacting. Among these, 
and certainly neither the least imperious nor the 
least to be encouraged, is that of going out of town 
during the summer. Nothing answers better the 
requirements of our organization, which the artifi- 
cial condition of a life such as we lead nowadays 
tends so much to destroy. 

• This is particularly true as regards the inhabi- 
tants of great cities, for nowhere is the human 
organism consumed with a more feverish and more 



8 SEA-BATHING. 

enervating activity. The politician, the man of 
science, the business man, all require during the 
summer months a chance to repair the inroads 
which the overexertion of the winter has caused in 
their vital economy. 

Apart from this consideration, we are all influ- 
enced by an innate desire of changing our surround- 
ings ; by a natural wish of fleeing from the heated 
and dusty atmosphere of the city, tainted as it is 
with all kinds of impurities ; by the longing to enjoy 
space which the city refuses us, and bask in the sun 
at our ease, dissatisfied as we are with the fractional 
doses of air we receive, despite our modern improve- 
ments. Yes, you all need change of air, you whose 
blood has become vitiated, you whose limbs are 
impotent, or whose brain has become diseased ; and 
you, also, fair readers, will betake yourselves to the 
country to regain that freshness which you have lost 
by your winter dissipation. It is something besides 
iron and calasaya bark the pale-faced children need. 
They are exhausted by being shut up in houses with 
double windows, heavy curtains, kept from light 
and sun and air. They want exercise, open-air 
sports, to give color to their cheeks. 



SEA-BATHING. 9 

Some people are told u you need sea-bathing," 
and without further inquiry they go where they 
themselves see fit, and plunge into the sea without 
other guide than taste, inclination, or, it may be, 
the advice of some officious persons, who, very 
naturally, have nothing but eulogy for that which 
perhaps gives them personally health, unable to 
perceive that what may be of benefit to them may 
be of equal harm to others. 

Many imagine that the immersion of the body in 
the sea at a particular hour of the day, continued 
for a certain period, constitutes sea-bathing, while 
others are persuaded that salt-water is in its effects 
as harmless as fresh, and that in its use one may at 
pleasure pursue either the promptings of instinct or 
the erroneous calculations of an uneducated judg- 
ment. Others again are aware of its dangers, but 
the pleasure of gratifying one's whim at the risk of 
discomfort, disease, or even death, does not restrain 
them. What seems more natural, being at the sea- 
shore, than to enter the water, remain in it as long 
as possible, and after the necessary change of toilet, 
return to one's hotel or remain on the beach ? 

Believing that precise information, deduced from 



IO SEA-BATHING. 

observation, supported by high authorities, freed 
from all theory, and presented in every-day lan- 
guage, might be of some use at the sea-side, I pro- 
pose in the following chapters to give, under the 
form of simple practical recommendations, all ne- 
cessary indications. 



CHAPTER 

SEA-AIR. 



The odor of the sea is singular and indescribable, 
but once recognized, it can neither be forgotten nor 
mistaken. This odor, due to the peculiar matters 
contained in the sea-water, is developed to a far 
greater extent where the billows break upon a rocky 
than upon a sandy coast ; stronger in storm, when, 
with material from all sources, the angry sea casts 
upon the beach the alg?e and fuci which have been 
torn from her depths, than in calm. 

To Berzelius is due the explanation of the cause 
of the odor of the sea-air. Chemists had in vain 
sought for iodine in the sea, when he proved its exist- 
ence as sodium iodide, together with sodium chlor- 



SEA-BATHING. II 

ide and magnesium bromide. It is certain that the 
odor of the sea strongly resembles that of certain 
bromides and iodides, and iodine, bromine and 
chlorine somewhat resemble each other in their 
odor. May we not suppose that in the great deep, 
chemical action, occult, it is true, but none the less 
positive, and possibly as determinate as in our 
laboratories, goes on, and that iodine, bromine and 
chlorine are evolved, and, carried in the spray, 
affect the organ of smell ? That we do not detect 
the absolute presence of these elements is, it seems 
to me, due rather to our imperfect means of inves- 
tigation than to their absence. Besides this, the 
sea-air is purer than that of the interior. The 
ocean being lower, there is an increase in the den- 
sity of the atmosphere, and the chemical and physi- 
cal changes constantly going on tend to increase 
the amount of ozone or active oxygen present, and 
lessen the carbonic acid. The temperature is also 
more constant. 

Of the causes which affect the atmosphere, winds 
are the most important. These are due to the con- 
stant changes in the density of various portions of 
the atmosphere, or to differences in the rate at 



12 SEA-BATHING. 

which portions of the earth's surface, such as land 
and water, are heated, and to the movements of the 
earth itself. Were these causes not to operate, dead 
stillness, so far as the air is concerned, would be the 
result ; but their effect upon the atmosphere gives 
rise to the currents which we call winds 

As we all know, the land in a given time absorbs 
more heat than the sea, and from this unequal warm- 
ing there results on the borders of the ocean the 
phenomena of the land and sea breezes. 

Dwellers at the sea-shore should be acquainted 
with the causes and times of these, in order that 
they may avail themselves most fully of or guard 
carefully against them, as their sanitary condition 
may require. 

Since the absorbent power of land for heat is 
greater than that of the water, the temperature of 
the land gains constantly on that of the water on 
bright, sunshiny days until about three in the after- 
noon. As a result of this, the air in contact with 
the land is rendered lighter than the air over the 
ocean, and the latter rushes landward, forcing the 
lighter air to ascend, and thus we have during the 
greater portion of the day, and for some time after 



SEA-BATHING. 13 

sunset, a breeze from the ocean — the sea-breeze. 

Now as bodies which gain heat rapidly part with 
it as rapidly, we have the land cooling more quickly 
than the water, so that the latter is warmer during 
the night than the earth, and there is then deter- 
mined an exactly opposite condition : a breeze from 
the land to the sea — the land-breeze — and this con- 
tinues until the rising sun has again rendered the 
land the warmer. 

There are two causes which tend to render a high 
temperature more endurable at the sea-shore than 
inland. The first is that the greater the temperature 
the more unequal the heating of the land and water, 
and consequently the stronger the sea and land 
breezes ; the second, that the rapid evaporation 
of the ocean renders latent a portion of this heat, 
thus making the breeze cooler than it otherwise 
would be. 

Hence the explanation of the remarkable physio- 
logical effects of the season at the sea-shore, es- 
pecially as to the tonic effects it has upon the organ- 
ism, is to be sought : 

1 st. In a greater density of the air, and therefore 
in a greater amount resp'red. 



14 SEA-BATHING. 

2d. In the greater amount of ozone, or active 
oxygen. 

3d. The constant renewal of the air, due to the 
winds, and the breathing therefore of perfectly 
fresh air. 

4th. Possibly to the effects of the salts carried 
with the evaporating water and spray. 

5 th, To the freedom from care, and the regular 
mode of living which generally prevails. 



CHAPTER II. 



SEA-BATHING. 



Sea-water produces its effects upon the organ- 
ism : 

1. By its temperature. 

2. By its chemical composition. 

3. By its density. 

4. By the continual motion of the waves ; and 

5. By absorption. 

1. Temperature. — The researches heretofore made 
concerning the temperature of the ocean are incom- 



SEA-BATHING. IS 

plete. We only know that on account of its density 
it experiences less variations than the water of rivers 
or lakes, and that it is in striking contrast with that 
of the surrounding air. Water being one of the 
poorest conductors of heat, when the caloric strikes 
the surface of the ocean, being obliged to put itself 
in equilibrium between liquid dense molecules 
always in motion, it warms slowly, while the mole- 
cules of the atmosphere being specifically lighter, 
the same caloric, by the reflection of its rays, warms 
rapidly the stratum of air which is in contact with 
the sea. We can understand, then, why it is that 
the atmosphere is so much warmer on a summer 
day than the ocean water, and why at night, by an 
analogous reason, it cools so much more rapidly, 
and consequently why the temperature of the ocean 
should be more uniform and constant than that of 
the air. 

The changes of temperature in all large bodies of 
water are almost as marked and regular as the 
changes of seasons. In fact, they are dependent 
upon the same causes which produce these phe- 
nomena — the solar influence upon the surface of the 
globe. We find that the temperature of the ocean 



1 6 SEA-BATHING. 

increases gradually during the month of July in a 
proportion which never exceeds 2.25 F. a day; 
during the month of August it reaches its maximum, 
66.65 ° F. ; here it remains for some time nearly 
constant, seemingly unaffected by the changes 
taking place in the atmosphere, and about the 
beginning of September begins to fall, and the 
decrease then goes on steadily. 

Let us now study the action of this fluid upon 
the human organism. 

The first effect produced is purely physical in its 
nature. It consists in a contraction of the tissues 
of the body and an irritation of the nervous papillae 
scattered over its surface. These are due to the 
difference of temperature between the body and the 
sea-w r ater, to the saline constituents of that fluid 
and to the shock given the system by the water it- 
self. These are the chief agencies which affect the 
human economy in sea-bathing. They seem to 
explain nearly all the phenomena, both physiological 
and pathological, to which sea-bathing gives rise. 

The maximum temperature of sea-water, as we 
have seen, is about 32 F. below that of the body. 
The impression of cold which we experience on 



SEA-BATHING. 1 7 

entering the ocean shows conclusively that this agent 
robs the body of a portion of its caloric. This 
diminution of the temperature of the body, which is 
especially marked upon the surface, would diminish 
the sensibility of the cutaneous nerves, force the 
blood toward the internal organs, and stop almost 
entirely cutaneous exhalation. 

2. Chemical Composition. — Although the compara- 
tively low temperature of the water is the chief cause 
of the physiological phenomena manifested by the 
human economy, yet it is not the only one. In the 
saline constituents of sea-water we are to find an 
important agent, which, by the stimulating influence 
it exercises upon the cutaneous surface, not only 
modifies greatly the action of the cold water upon 
the organism, but tends in a great measure to bring 
on reaction, and contributes to the consecutive 
effects. 

From the most recent observations we may assign 
to the water of the sea the following composition : 

Water 964.70 

Chloride of sodium 27.00 

Chloride of potassium 00.70 

Chloride of magnesium O?.6o 



l8 SEA-BATHING. 

Sulphate of magnesia 02.30 

Sulphate oflime 01.40 

Carbonate of lime 00.03 

Bromide of magnesium 00.02 

Loss 00.25 

Total 1,000.00 

To the above-named salts, which represent about 
3.5 per cent, of its weight, sea-water owes its pecu- 
liar taste, odor and properties. Let us add that in 
it are found also some traces of iodine. 

The salts of the ocean act upon the skin from the 
moment of immersion. This is shown by the sensa- 
tions experienced by some individuals at the time 
of immersion, but it is best observed during reac- 
tion. It is no doubt difficult to determine exactly 
the part performed by the saline particles; but 
probably we will not be contradicted when we state 
that they increase the intensity and duration of the 
reactionary period. The sensation of heat, as evi- 
denced by the prickling, burning, etc., of the skin, 
is without doubt due to them. The eruptions, the 
unctuous appearance, as well as the roughness, of 
the skin which we see in some bathers are evi- 
dently due to the same cause. 



SEA-BATHING. 19 

3. Density. — The specific gravity of sea-water is 
to fresh-water as 1.0289 to 1.000; hence the effect 
of its density in bathing is very small compared with 
the causes we have just given. Its method of oper- 
ation is entirely mechanical. Surrounded and com- 
pressed on all sides by a liquid, the density of which 
is greater than that of atmospheric air, the body 
emerges from it smaller than before, not only by the 
amount of contraction due to the action of the cold 
water upon the skin, but also by the diminution in 
volume due to the pressure of the surrounding water. 
The influence of this compression is chiefly exerted 
upon soft and vascular tissues, driving the fluids 
which they contain to the interior organs. In like 
manner exterior engorgements, being due especially 
to an accumulation of liquids, by virtue of this com- 
pressibility diminish in volume. Thus the mechani- 
cal action of the density of sea-water concurs with 
the physiological action of the cold in favoring the 
phenomena of contraction. 

4. Motio?i of the Waves. — This influence also is 
purely mechanical. Its effects are due to friction 
and percussion, and vary in intensity with the 
amount of motion of the water, according to the 



20 SEA-BATHING. 

shore on which the sea beats, and the state of the 
atmosphere. 

We have all experienced the effects of moderate 
percussion upon the cutaneous surface in the shower- 
bath, which, by constantly renewing the water, must 
naturally aid in robbing the body of its heat, and 
stimulate the muscles and nerves to increased action. 
Similar effects are produced by the friction and per- 
cussion of the sea-water ; hence they develop heat, 
and excite the skin to attempts at exhalation. The 
effect of the motion of the waves, then, is antagonistic 
in a measure to that of the low temperature of the 
water. If, however, the movements of the waves 
are too strong, the same effect is produced on the 
body as by too violent exercise, and there results a 
feeling of lassitude, which may be so intense as to 
cause general debility. If the water is very rough, 
the impinging of the waves upon the chest, especially 
if it is small, or if there is any tendency to disease, 
produces symptoms of pectoral trouble. This may 
be obviated in a measure by presenting the posterior 
portion of the trunk to the waves. 

Thus the motion of the sea-water co-operates with 
its saline constituents in exciting the nervous sensi- 



SEA-BATHING. 2 1 

bility of the skin, and when not too great, to some 
extent acts upon it like cold ; for the vibration of 
the waves, renewing incessantly the water which is 
in contact with the body, favors as in the shower- 
bath the subtraction of the caloric, and tends to 
increase the intensity of the depressing action of 
the sea-bath. 

5. Absorption. — Most German authorities regard 
the influence of sea-bathing as depending in a 
great measure upon the absorption through the skin 
of the water and its saline constituents. 

The body of man is considered as a physical 
instrument having powers of action within certain 
limits, but until recently no notice was taken of the 
individual differences manifested by each person. 
In the same way as disease varies in its effect upon 
different organisms, so each individual has differ- 
ences in the physiological manifestations of his 
health. In considering the absorption of the fluid 
by the cutaneous surface of the body, allowance 
was not made for pulmonary absorption. Another 
element entering into this calculation is the influ- 
ence of temperature. It is important that observa- 
tions should be made at different temperatures, the 



22 SEA-BATHING. 

general results noted, and the deductions based 
upon these general results. 

Dr. Duriau took as a point of departure not the 
freezing-point of the F. scale, but a temperature 
from 90° to 93 ° F., which he characterized as the 
indifferent temperature. He found that if the tem- 
perature of the water was above this point, the body 
lost in weight, while if below, it gained. He there- 
fore drew the following conclusions : 

1. Absorption through the cutaneous surface 
takes place if the temperature of the bath is less 
than that of the cutaneous surface. 

2. Absorption only takes place when this con- 
dition is fulfilled. 

3. The amount absorbed is proportional to the 
duration of immersion. 

4. If the temperature of the water is greater than 
that of the body, then cutaneous exhalation takes 
place, and there is a corresponding diminution in 
the weight of the body. 

5. That the loss of weight bears a direct ratio 
to the duration of the bath and its tempera- 
ture. 

6. At the indifferent point (90 to 93 °) there is 



SEA-BATHING. 23 

an equilibrium between the absorption and cutane- 
ous exhalation. 

Observations by different scientists have verified 
the above results. Thus Semper observed that if a 
foot-bath was prolonged for a considerable period, 
there was a sensible diminution in the amount of 
the fluid. Collard de Martigny found that if he kept 
his arms immersed in vases of different capacities 
filled with water for an hour, the level of the liquid 
fell. Cruikshank, who had a patient unable to 
swallow, calmed his thirst by ordering him to take 
two baths daily. Sanctorius found that the body 
increased in weight in damp weather. It is useless 
to cite farther experiments in support of absorption 
through the skin ; yet we must not lose sight of the 
fact that if we have on the exterior of the body an 
integument which absorbs readily, we have also in 
its prolongation to the internal surface — that is, in 
the mucous membrane which lines mouth, pharynx, 
lungs, etc. — one much more prone to absorb water. 
This membrane being the chief absorbent of the 
body, is not the increase in weight in damp weather 
due to its absorption of the vapor of water inspired ? 

As regards sea-bathing, we admit that a certain 



24 SEA-BATHING. 

portion of the saline constituents of the salt-water 
which remain upon the cutaneous surface of the 
body after a bath is absorbed by it ; we admit, also, 
the absorption of the water itself through the integ- 
ument, but only provided the bath be sufficiently 
prolonged ; but if the immersion be but of short 
duration, the contraction of the cutaneous surface, 
which necessarily takes place, will preclude any 
absorption of the fluid by the skin. 



CHAPTER III. 

PHYSIOLOGICAL PHENOMENA. 

The physiological phenomena which arise from 
sea-bathing may be divided into three classes : 

A. Phenomena of immersion, primary or imme- 
diate. 

B. Phenomena of reaction, secondary or mediate. 

C. Consecutive phenomena, or general phenom- 
ena. 

A. Phenomena of I?nmersion. — Upon entering the 
water, the first effect noticed is a sensation of cold, 
which varies according to the susceptibility of the 



SEA-BATHING. 25 

individual and the difference between the tempera- 
ture of the water and that of the surrounding air. 
Sometimes the first effect of immersion is so power- 
ful as to produce actual suffering. The skin 
assumes the peculiar appearance popularly known 
as goose-skin, the face is pale and anxious, the lips 
are blue, the pulse decreases in frequency, a sense 
of oppression is manifest, and sometimes a spas- 
modic shivering appears. The respiratory func- 
tions may be so interfered with as to hinder the 
free use of speech for a short time. We conclude, 
then, that the immediate effect of immersion, by 
cooling the surface of the body, contracts the blood- 
vessels which ramify there, and prevents the free 
flow of blood in the periphery, thus augmenting the 
amount of that fluid in the internal organs, whereby 
their functional activity is increased. 

The primary effect of immersion varies under dif- 
ferent circumstances. Age, temperament, the state 
of the system, whether healthy or suffering from dis- 
ease, with many other causes, all modify this im- 
pression ; and in the effect of cold, as it is modified 
by those causes, lies in a great measure the good or 
evil effects of sea-bathing. 



26 SEA-BATHING. 

B. Phenomena of Reaction. — Fortunately the phe- 
nomena of immersion, of which we have just spo- 
ken, though varying with the individual's peculiari- 
ties and amount of vital force, are of short duration. 
They are followed by those of reaction — phenomena 
quite the reverse. These are characterized by a 
feeling almost of pleasure, a sensation of warmth at 
the surface. of the body, an accelerated pulse, and 
an augmentation of muscular and mental energy. 
Reaction, then, may be defined as the effort which 
the entire economy makes to overcome the benumb- 
ing influence of cold water. 

As the phenomena of immersion vary in intensity 
and duration, so do those of reaction. But what 
takes place in a few minutes ? We see reproduced 
the same thing we have noticed at the moment of 
entering the bath. The same shiver manifests 
itself, sometimes more intense than at first. If the 
body has been immersed for too long a time in the 
water — that is to say, until the secondary shiver 
comes on — the nervous influence may become 
exhausted in its fruitless attempts to excite the 
body to an increased calorification. This effect of 
too long continued immersion is more marked upon 



SEA-BATHING. 27 

the extremities than upon the trunk. It always 
shows itself by a loss of physical energy, and some- 
times it may even produce inflammation of the 
organs of nutritive life by accumulating the blood 
in those organs. 

C. Consecutive Phenomena. — The effects sought to 
be obtained as part of the final result constitute all 
those modifications of the human organism which 
are developed by sea-bathing. The medicinal influ- 
ence of salt-water is easy to foresee. It does not 
direct itself to acute diseases, but to chronic states 
of the system, to debilitated constitutions due to 
atony or to the influence of former vices. It is on 
account of its constitutional effects that children 
and young women, by a continued use of sea-bath- 
ing, added to a careful observance of the rules of 
hygiene, not only change the general condition of 
their system, but develop a new and better consti- 
tution. 

If, following M. Gaudet's observations, we exam- 
ine the effect of immersion according to individual 
constitutions, we find that some experience scarcely 
any shock on entering the sea, that they may even 
remain in it for half an hour or more without any 



28 SEA-BATHING. 

apparent inconvenience, especially if while in the 
water they continue in motion. They are the vig- 
orous youths or adults whose cutaneous vascula/ 
system is well nourished. It is especially true in 
the case of those who are habituated to cold or 
shower baths at home, or to river or sea-bathing. 

Others, on the contrary — and this includes by far 
the greatest number of bathers — experience at once 
a quick sensation of cold, accompanied by a sense 
of constriction or suffocation in the chest or upper 
part of the abdomen ; while some suffer from cold 
feet, hands, etc. It is in these bathers that the face 
grows pale, the features contract, and the rush of 
blood from the surface to the internal organs pro- 
duces vertigo, palpitation, a sense of internal heat, 
or a slight spasm of coughing. These effects cease 
after a short time, and are followed by a pleasure- 
able sensation. With these bathers the time which 
elapses until the second shivering fit comes on varies 
from ten to fifteen minutes. They are generally 
adults in tolerably good health, while those who are 
enfeebled by sedentary life, ill health, or are accus- 
tomed to hot baths, experience this same shivering 
in from three to five minutes. 



SEA-BATHING. 29 

There are some again, who on entering the sea 
are so affected by the sensation of cold that they can 
scarcely refrain from shrieking. The face becomes 
of a violet tint, the features are very much altered, 
they shiver violently, and should they experience 
momentary relief, they feel the shivering spasm 
return with greater force ; they often remain still 
during their sojourn in the water, and emerge from 
it shivering and with their teeth chattering. This 
class includes the nervous, those suffering from gas- 
tralgia or from chronic diseases, those growing rap- 
idly, or past adult age. 

Cold is tonic in its action, but in order that it 
shall be so, it is necessary that the intensity of the 
cold be proportioned to the degree of vitality in the 
system, since the latter has to undergo, first, a 
period of concentration marked by a sense of cold 
which lasts, as we have seen, during the whole 
immersion, which sensation is in a direct ratio to 
the time of immersion, and inversely to the amount 
of vital force possessed by the individual ; in other 
words, if he be very vigorous, the effect will scarcely 
be noticed ; if enfeebled, the contrary will be true ; 
secondly, a period of reaction, which is due to the 



30 SEA-BATHING. 

energy of the individual, and is the effort the organ- 
ism makes against any outside influence that tends 
to disturb it. It is in the contrast afforded by these 
two periods that the greatest good is to be obtained. 
If, however, there be not sufficient vital force to 
overcome the depressing effect of the water, then 
disorders may be apprehended. It is under such 
circumstances that death has followed sea-bathing, 
and that grave affections, before latent, have devel- 
oped themselves. 

If the evil results of sea-bathing under unfavor- 
able conditions be so great, how are we to judge 
when the conditions are favorable and good results 
are to follow ? 

The signs of a good reaction are a warm, moist 
skin soft to the touch, a full and easy respiration, a 
regular pulse, a feeling as if perspiration were about 
to take place, and, finally, a sensation of ease and 
comfort, predisposing the bather to active exertion. 

When we contrast these symptoms with those fol- 
lowing an imperfect reaction — the blueness of the 
lips the goose-skin, the paleness of the face, the 
loss of strength, the continued shivering of the body, 
so that the bather seems unable to get warm, the 



SEA-BATHING. 31 

general anxiety and discomfort — we cannot fail to 
distinguish the cases in which sea-bathing is benefi- 
cial from those in which evil results will follow. 

Hence it is necessary to understand fully the con- 
dition of the individual at the time, if there be 
strength sufficient to permit the use of the bath, or 
if there be contra-indications precluding its use. 



CHAPTER IV. 

INDICATIONS AND CONTRA-INDICATIONS TO 
SEA-BATHING. 

As a primary result of the bath we have a disturb- 
ance of the circulation ; the blood, driven from the 
periphery to the internal organs, is in turn, and with 
increased force, propelled from the heart toward the 
exterior, and, as a natural consequence of this, there 
is an increased activity in all the physiological func- 
tions of the different organs. 

The stomach, until then inactive, calls for substan- 
tial alimentation. 

The other digestive organs work more rapidly and 
effectively. 



32 SEA-BATHING. 

The absorbents seize upon the digested material 
with greater eagerness, and thus enrich the blood. 

From the more rapid production of healthy blood 
results an increased development of the body, and, 
as a consequence, pain ceases, vigor takes the place 
of nervous prostration, and health that of disease. 

Thus we can explain the rapidity with which per- 
sons either naturally weak or just convalescing 
obtain a strength which they never possessed, or 
regain that which had been lost by continued illness, 
by long-sustained brain-work, excesses of every 
kind. Hence sea-bathing is indicated in all those 
cases which have resisted the pharmaceutical re- 
sources of the healing art. 

It appears to me useless to enumerate all the dis- 
eases to which the human body is liable, for there 
are a number of affections for which no physician 
ever dreamed of advising sea-bathing. I have, 
therefore, concluded adopting Auber's division to 
indicate the category of diseases in which sea-bath- 
ing is called for. 

Among the affections of the head for which sea- 
baths have been employed with marked success may 
be mentioned insomnia, nightmare, melancholia, 



SEA-BATHING. $$ 

mania, persistent and rebellious headache (when not 
dependent upon inflammatory states), and even, 
according to Dr. Kerandrew, in idiocy and certain 
species of insanity. Pomme, Tissot, Lorry and 
Zimmermann have recorded their observations in a 
number of cases, the results seeming conclusive as 
to the good effects produced. Dr. Gaudet states 
that the experience of each year confirms the con- 
clusions of these illustrious observers. 

According to Lecceur, sea-bathing is indicated in 
the dyspnoea resulting from atony of the inspiratory 
muscles. Buchan states that that singular predis- 
position manifested by many persons to catarrhal 
affections generally, and particularly to a rebellious 
cough, which, beginning early in the Fall, lasts until 
Spring, may be overcome by sea-baths. Gilchrist, 
Amedee Latour, and Lecceur recommend sea-bath- 
ing to persons threatened by or in the first stages of 
consumption. Sea-baths have also been advocated 
by many authors as useful in tic-doloureux, tremu- 
lousness of the voice, difficult breathing, hiccough, 
nervous asthma, syncope, palpitation of the heart, 
and fainting depending upon a weakened nervous 
system* 



34 SEA-BATHING. 

Sea-bathing is also an excellent remedy for ner- 
vous affections of the stomach, intestines, or other 
abdominal organs, and in perversions of the taste, 
loss of appetite. It has been employed against in- 
testinal worms, and in jaundice when not due to an 
engorgement of the liver or obstruction of the bile 
ducts, in nephritic colic, in cases of urinary calculi, 
both renal and vesicular, in difficult micturition 
and incontinence of urine, and by Lefrangois and 
Blatin in chronic catarrh of the bladder. Ac- 
cording to Dr. Montegre, sea-bathing is one of the 
most efficacious remedies, if not the only safe one, 
that can be employed with certainty against hemorr- 
hoids or piles, the bane of most people who lead a 
sedentary life. 

Among the general diseases in which sea-bathing 
is indicated are included fevers and neuroses, san- 
guineous and nervous anaemia or asthenia, the stru- 
mous diathesis, Pott's disease, and rachitis ; and some 
authors even include rheumatism and gout. 

Sea-bathing was prescribed, and with success, in 
ardent fevers by Galen ; in inflammatory fevers by 
Paul of Egina ; in malignant fevers by Currie, Wright, 
Brandreth and Recamier ; in pestilential affections, 



SEA-BATHING. 35 

and even in the plague, by Hildebrand and Desgen- 
ettes ; and in intractable intermittents by Marcard, 
Huxham and Vogel. 

Pomme Tissot, Lorry, Zimmermann and Whyt, 
who are among the greatest specialists in nervous 
affections, all recommend sea-bathing in hysteria, 
more commonly known as nervous attacks ; in hypo- 
chondria, that terrible disease so often born of ennui 
and its accompanying insomnia; and in atonic 
paralysis. Drs. Morgue and Assegond state that it 
is of the greatest use in lymphatic engorgements, 
serious effusions, relaxed conditions of tissues, and 
all catarrhal effusions of mucous membranes. 

Sea-bathing is almost a specific for scrofula or 
strumous disease, that terrible evil of which rachitis, 
Pott's disease, and hip-joint disease are so often the 
active agents. It often succeeds when tonics, bitters, 
iron, iodine and cod-liver oil have completely failed, 
in all affections depending upon struma, either 
hereditary or acquired. 

Great success has also attended the use of sea- 
baths in excessive obesity, boils, white tumors, par- 
alysis of the extremities, wounds, contracted mus- 
cles ; in the rigidity or weakness following sprains, 



36 SEA-BATHING. 

taxations, fractures, and in anchylosis ; in running 
sores occasioned by the imperfect healing of exten- 
sive burns, and ulcerated chilblains. 

Itching and pruritus often yield quickly to this 
agent. Celsius himself used it in these affections. 
In psora it is recommended by Russel and Jadelot. 
Success has almost invariably followed its use in 
treating atonic and indolent ulcers, cold and fistu- 
lous abscesses, and even in excessive suppuration. 

Vigaroux, Guyetant, Gardane, Rozier, Russel, 
speak highly of the benefit derived from sea-bath- 
ing, in a great number of the diseases of women, 
and particularly in excessive or difficult menstrua- 
tion, passive hemorrhages, and in chlorosis ; in 
catarrh of the bladder, uterus, or its annexes ; in 
the atony of the bladder, and incontinence of urine ; 
in the anomalies of menstruation ; in relaxation of the 
ligaments or supports of, and falling of, the womb ; 
and finally, in chlorotic sterility. Several cele- 
brated obstetricians recommend sea-baths against 
the pains and weaknesses resulting either from too 
prompt or too severe labors, or from imprudent and 
unskillful manipulation. 

According to Dr. Assegond, sea-bathing is better 



SEA-BATHING. 37 

than any other therapeutic remedy for children 
affected with nervous disorders. It is recommended 
by Sauvages, Cullen and Buchan as especially effi- 
cacious in tabes, mesenteric scrofula, swelling of the 
lymphatic glands of the axilla or the neck, in scrofu- 
lous ulcers of the scalp, and parasitic affections. 
Hippocrates recommended sea-baths in convulsions, 
and since his day, and following his example, Galen, 
Sydenham, Hufeland, Tissot, Currie, Russel, Whyt 
and Boerhave have always advised their use. 
Finally, Gilchrist recommends them expressly in 
incipient consumption and marasmus. 

Elderly persons, affected with those forms of 
disease of the skin which (in old age) leave the 
cuticle and excite disease in internal organs, will 
derive great advantage from sea-bathing. It is also 
to be used when the skin disease acts as a revulsive, 
as the bathing aids this action. 

Extreme caution is necessary in recommending 
sea-bathing. The age, state of health or disease, 
the individual idiosyncrasy, all require considera- 
tion, and even when they are indicated, accidental 
conditions often arise suddenly which necessitate a 
suspension of the bathing either temporarily or 



$8 SEA-BATHING. 

periodically. There are also certain diseases where 
the trouble is only aggravated by sea-bathing, and 
of course its use is contra-indicated from the first. 
* Gaudet states that sea-bathing may be begun even 
during the first year of life. We do not agree with 
him in this, but would wait until the child is three 
or four years old, except in a few special cases, and 
even in these we would prepare the child for sea- 
bathing by having him immersed daily in a bath of 
sea-water, the temperature of which was gradually 
decreased until the average summer temperature 
of the sea (55 to 75 F.) was reached. 

Great caution must also be exercised in regard to 
children from twelve to fifteen years old ; for at this 
time sea-bathing may determine dyspnoea, nervous 
shock, or even convulsions. 

According to Dr. Gaudet, it should be only after 
the most thorough examination, and then with the 
greatest care, that sea-bathing be permitted to 
young people with prominent cheekbones and high- 
colored cheeks, in whom a tendency to headache 
exists. 

Women should rigorously abstain from sea-bath- 
ing during the menstrual period, that is to say, from 



SEA-BATHING. 39 

two or three days before the flow until three or four 
days after, lest serious results in the form of chronic 
diseases follow. So also during pregnancy or nurs- 
ing. 

Old people should use great caution in sea-bath- 
ing, and should, in fact, consult their physician 
before indulging in it, because in old age there is a 
tendency to cerebral affections, such as congestion, 
apoplexy, and softening of the brain, which the bath 
may induce. 

Again, the existence of dyspnoea, dizziness, hyper- 
trophy of the heart, and incipient aneurism abso- 
lutely contra-indicate the use of sea-bathing, because 
the tonic and overstimulating action of the sea-water 
ma_v develop any of these latent troubles. 

Sea-bathing should be allowed only with the great- 
est caution and watchfulness to persons who are of 
a highly nervous temperament. This is especially 
the case of some women whose life is a toy of their 
extreme nervous susceptibility ; for in these cases 
they often cause extreme agitation, much mental 
distress, and prolonged fainting fits, and but aggra- 
vate the condition of the sufferer. 

Sea-bathing is unsuited to those suffering from 



40 SEA-BATHING. 

consumption, engorgement of the liver, obstruction 
of various organs, and in certain morbid states of 
the blood. 

Again, sea-bathing is contra-indicated in the case 
of ardent, sanguine temperaments, full of life, and 
especially in plethoric individuals who are subject 
to inflammatory diseases, congestions, acute rheu- 
matism, and erratic gout. 

It is to be absolutely denied to sufferers from 
eruptions or continual sweating of the hands or feet, 
lest the sudden cessation of these troubles be fol- 
lowed by congestion, convulsions, apoplexy, or 
death. 



CHAPTER V. 



BATH. 



i. Hour of the Bath. — Writers upon the subject of 
sea-bathing do not agree as to the time at which the 
bath should be taken; many, considering this a mat- 
ter of little importance, merely suggest that hour of 
the day most convenient to each individual. In our 
judgment this is a matter of great importance, for 
those who bathe in the morning (before breakfast). 



SEA-BATHING. 41 

besides exposing themselves to a fainting fit, expe- 
rience a feeling of lassitude or weakness, and in 
addition to these injurious after-effects, there is the 
exposure to an atmosphere which is in the morning 
more or less damp. 

Experience has shown that for the majority of 
people the best time is from seven to eleven in the 
morning, the maximum tonic effects being obtained 
then from the fact that the temperature both of the 
air and the water is at its lowest point. For those 
who are in delicate health or very nervous, and for 
children of weak constitutions, the best time is from 
eleven in the morning until four in the afternoon, as 
between those hours the temperature of the water 
steadily increases. 

It is of the utmost importance that children should 
be positively forbidden to bathe after dark. When 
the sun sets, the breeze from the land is very chil- 
ling, and imparts its freshness to the borders of the 
sea, and hence the little ones cannot but be affected 
injuriously by contact with the water, and no mat- 
ter what efforts they make to rub themselves dry, 
walk or run, or even if they put on additional gar- 
ments, the reaction is slow, the blood circulates with 



42 SEA-BATHING. 

difficulty, and they will remain all night in a condi- 
tion which will disturb their slumber, and may even 
be the cause of serious disorders. 

The time chosen for bathing should immediately 
precede or coincide with that of high water, for then 
we have the advantage of easy access to the ocean 
and the least possible exposure in returning to the 
bath-house; moreover, the water is then most free 
from the impurities which it contains at low tide. 

Without attempting to demonstrate the conclu- 
sions of Kepler, or verify the theories of Newton 
upon the tidal phenomena, let us briefly explain why 
they take place in the same way at two points upon 
the earth's surface which are diametrically opposed. 
What first attracts our attention is the ebb and flow 
of the waters. These oscillations are periodical. 
The water flows toward one portion of the earth 
during the space of six hours ; this constitutes the 
rising of the tide ; it then remains stationary for 
about fifteen minutes ; it is now called high water. 
From this it begins to recede. The time taken by 
the water to return to its lowest point is about the 
same as it occupied in rising to its highest ; this is 
termed low tide or full ebb. After remaining at this 



SEA-BATHING. 43 

point for a quarter of an hour, it again resumes its 
former motion, and so continues in its oscillations. 
During a lunar day (a space of twenty-four hours 
fifty minutes— the time elapsing between the moon 
being over the meridian of her place and her return- 
ing to it) the tides have changed twice. From this 
it follows that the tides are daily fifty minutes later, 
that is, if on a certain day at any place it be high 
water at i P. M., on the following day it will be high 
water at 1.50 P. M., the day after at 2.40 P. M.,and 
so on. 

2. Hours of the Meals. — A certain relation should 
exist between the hours of the meals and that of 
bathing. 

All who have practised sea-bathing know that 
one of the first effects is to increase the appetite ; 
but, unfortunately, the digestive organs are not 
strengthened in the same proportion. It would be 
well, therefore, most particularly for people inclined 
to dyspepsia, that two to four hours should elapse 
after eating before entering the bath. 

Many, again, go to the other extreme. Finding 
that a bath before breakfast increases the appetite, 
they persevere in that practice, notwithstanding 



44 SEA-BATHING. 

they suffer severely from indigestion afterward. It 
may be said without exaggeration that two-thirds 
of all bathers sit down to table on leaving the bath. 
This is a most injudicious proceeding, because it 
interferes with reaction ; they should bear in mind 
that digestion imparts a sensation of cold ; in other 
words, that it draws the blood from the periphery 
of the body to concentrate it on the stomach ; and 
that to eat immediately after the bath is to lose most 
of the benefit of the saline treatment. 

3. Dress of the Bather, — Of the dress adopted by 
man we can say nothing, as its dimensions offer lit- 
tle room for criticism. That of woman being more 
complete, a few words may not be amiss concern- 
ing the one that will fulfill most completely the con- 
ditions required. The bathing dress should be 
made of a woolen fabric the warp of which is worst- 
ed, the woof serge. We particularly insist upon 
woolen as the material to be worn, as it retains the 
heat of the body, and therefore prevents a too rapid 
evaporation. Maroon and blue are the proper col- 
ors, as they resist the corrosive and bleaching effects 
of the salt water. The dress should consist 
essentially of two parts, a pair of pantaloons 



SEA-BATHING. 45 

and a blouse. The latter should not fit too 
tightly ; the sleeves fastened loosely at the wrist, 
and slits cut in the garment just below the armpits. 
A belt of the same woolen stuff is attached to the 
blouse to retain it at the waist. The pantaloons 
should be short, upheld by suspenders; they should 
not be buttoned too tightly to the legs, as circula- 
tion would be thereby impeded. 

A broad-brimmed straw hat may be worn, but all 
coverings (such as oil-skin caps so commonly worn 
by ladies to prevent the hair being wet) prevent- 
ing a free perspiration on the scalp are injuri- 
ous, since the secretions from the skin are stopped, 
and the head has to perform more than its share of 
the work ; and also on account of the increased cere- 
bral circulation, all possible care should be taken to 
keep that part of the body at its habitual temperature. 

4. The Bath. — In entering the bath a necessary 
condition of the body is at least a normal tempera-, 
ture. If slightly heated, or rather warmed, by 
moderate exercise, the effects will be even greater. 
Should the body be cold, the primary effect of immer- 
sion is a sensation of cold so intense that the bather 
is compelled immediately to retire, fortunate even if 



46 SEA-BATHING. 

he succeeds afterward in bringing on reaction. If, on 
the contrary, the heat of the body be at the normal 
temperature, or slightly above it, as we have indi- 
cated, one can remain longer in the water and be 
assured that a complete reaction will subsequently 
take place. But the bather must carefully discrim- 
inate between moderate exercise, producing simply 
a healthy glow over the whole body, and excessive 
exertion, which fatigues and causes weakness too 
great to allow of aught but injury from a bath. If, 
on the other hand, we should not enter the water too 
cold, so, on the other, must we avoid a state of 
profuse perspiration. If, as frequently happens on 
a sultry summer day, he who proposes to take a bath 
has by violent exercise thrown himself into a great 
heat, let him take a moderate walk along the shore 
until perspiration has to a great extent subsided. 
On no account is he to throw off his clothing and await 
in his bathing dress the lowering of the temperature, 
as we have before indicated as being necessary. 
These injunctions are of the highest importance, 
unless one desires to emulate the rashness of Alex- 
der the Great, and suffer the same fate, by plunging 
an overheated bodv into the water. 



SEA-BATHING. 47 

5. On Entering the Bath. — The first endeavor 
should be to overcome all sensation of fear or dis- 
like, and enter resolutely and quickly ; run boldly 
out until the water reaches the waist, then plunge 
headlong, or cover the body to the neck. All sen- 
sation of cold, danger of congestion, are thus at 
once dispelled. Timid people are most apt to pro- 
long their agony, slowly advancing, hesitating at each 
step, and complaining of the cold. If they have not 
the hardihood wherewith to plunge, a good plan 
would be to have a bucket full of water poured over 
the head and shoulders. Care should be taken to wet 
the chest and abdomen immediately, since these are 
the parts most sensitive to the impression of cold. 

6. Exercise in the Bath. — We would advise all 
who propose to bathe in the sea for any length of 
time to learn to swim. A knowledge of this art not 
only gives the bather more confidence in himself, 
but allows him to enjoy the water to an extent that 
otherwise would be impossible. In this exercise we 
find combined all the conditions necessary to obtain, 
and that in a pleasing manner, the most beneficial 
effects of sea-water upon the system. A common 
practice with people who cannot swim is to wade 



48 SEA-BATHING. 

out until the water reaches the waist, stand still, and 
from time to time immerse the remainder of the 
body as far as the shoulders, allowing the head to 
remain dry. A most reprehensible practice and a 
more injurious method of bathing can scarcely be 
imagined. Far more harm than good is derived 
from it. If the bather desires a foot-bath, he had 
better by far obtain it in his own room. For those 
who have not learned how to swim, the best plan is 
to walk out quickly into the water until it is on a 
level with the shoulders, then moving about quickly, 
using both legs and arms in the exercise, they may 
obtain satisfactory results. If, however, the bather 
prefers the surf to smooth water, the best way to 
proceed is to let the waves strike the lateral or the 
posterior portions of the body, allowing himself 
frequently to be entirely submerged. 

7. The Duration of the Bath. — There is no divi- 
sion of our subject more important than this, nor one 
with respect to which greater diversity of opinion 
prevails. Most bathers believe that their pleasure 
is the only guide necessary, and that so long as they 
experience no perceptible injurious effects they may 
remain in the water. 



A-BATHIN 49 

From the results of eleven instant obser- 

vation, Dr. Roccas deduces the following rules 
concerning the duration of sea-baths : 

(i.) Delicate lymphatic children of from four to 
r-irs of age, in whom there exists predisposition 
to catarrhal diseases. :: .: intestinal disturbances, 
should be allowed to remain in the water only 
one to three minutes. The same rule holds true in 
regard to women who are extremely nervous, or who 
are much weakened by dise: 

(2.) Children of from six to ten years of age, who 
are recovering from recent illnesses, or who are 
rachitic, and nervous women of weak constitution, 
may be allowed to remain from two to five m: 
This period should never be exceeded at the begin- 
ning of the bathing season, though it might be 
increase! from three to eight minutes if the patient 
us to bear the baths well. 

(3 ) The majority of adult bathers who frequent 
Ti-side for the benefit of their health ma 
permitted to remain in the water from six to : 
minutes ; this class includes people of a lymphatic 
or even scrofulous diathesis and young girls about 
the period of pubc: \ 



50 SEA-BATHING. 

No absolute rule, however, can be given as to the 
duration of a bath, because this should vary with 
the characteristics of each individual; the best 
guide is that, so soon as the secondary chill is felt, 
the bather should always leave the water. Fifteen 
minutes is the limit to which any sea-bath should 
be prolonged. I am aware that when I make this 
assertion some one will exclaim : " But I have often 
remained in the water for half an hour, or even 
more, without any injurious consequences resulting." 
Granted, as to the fact ; but if it has not injured you, 
has it in any way benefited you ? Were you not in vig- 
orous health before going to the sea-side ? Did your 
constitution require sea-bathing to recuperate it? 

Another condition on which the duration of the 
bath must depend is not only the temporary health 
of the individual, but also the weather, the cqndition 
of the ocean, whether rough or calm ; the bath 
should be shorter when the water is cold as com- 
pared with the surrounding atmosphere, or when the 
sea is very rough. 

8 On leaving the Bath. — If the day be very warm, 
the bather, after quitting the water, may, sheltering 
himself from the wind, remain in his bathing dress 



SEA-BATHING. 5 1 

and allow it to dry upon his person. This we think 
the best plan, as it permits the deposit of the saline 
particles on the skin, and by their stimulating action, 
insures reaction. Should the weather be cold, how- 
ever, walk briskly to the bathing-house, and rub the 
body well with a coarse towel or flesh-brush until a 
healthy glow is thereby induced. Previous to dry- 
ing the body in this manner, it is well to pour a 
bucket of fresh-water, or at least of salt-water, over 
the head, so as to avoid those troublesome head- 
aches which so often affect the bather. It is to be 
regretted that our watering-places are not provided 
with the douche, such as is found at all European 
bathing-places. Not only does it prevent headache, 
but it lessens the force of the circulation of the 
blood in the head. 

The bather should never return to the water, 
after finishing his bath, to wash the sand from his 
feet ; remember that the extremities and particularly 
the feet are chilled, and the foot-bath only increases 
this condition. 

We have seen that the bather is conscious of two 
separate feelings of chill. This is true also with 
respect to the reaction. The first on entering the 



52 SEA-BATHING. 

water, the second on quitting it. Upon the inten- 
sity of these sensations depends, to a great extent, 
the whole question as to what benefit one is to 
derive from the baths, and consequently too much 
attention cannot be directed to whatever means we 
can employ to develop a healthy reaction. Many 
physiologists recommend exercise immediately after 
the bath, as much as the strength will allow without 
becoming unduly fatigued, in order to obtain all the 
benefits of the bathing. Some, however, carry this 
advice to such an extent as to waste in violent 
muscular exercise whatever strength- they have 
gained by bathing. Others, on the contrary, go 
from the bath to rest, and avoid all exercise, which is 
equally bad. Moderate exercise is essential to those 
who are bathing in the ocean, since it is not only 
necessary to insure a perfect reaction, but is indis- 
pensable to aid in expending the superfluous energy 
which sea-water imparts. 

In spite of all that physicians have said of die 
dangers of remaining too long in the water, the 
pleasures of bathing are, with most people, the first 
consideration, and the persistency to derive all 
enjoyment possible, expose them to accidents. 



SEA-BATHING. 53 

Of these, syncope is the most serious, and requires 
the assistance of the physician without delay. 

This condition is not always ushered in, with the 
same intensity ; it varies from faintishness to com- 
plete unconsciousness. The symptoms are often 
observed directly on coming from the bath, when 
the patient is attacked with a chill, and the circula- 
tion of the blood is arrested, causing a state of con- 
gestion in the head. 

Persons of delicate frame and sensitive, nervous 
organizations, are most subject to syncope. Women 
are affected more frequently than men. 

The symptoms of syncope are clearly marked. 
The patient is conscious of a sinking sensation in 
the epigastric region, and about the heart. 

These are dizziness, dimness of vision and ringing 
in the ears. The features are pinched, and the lips 
and cheeks are pale and cold. The pulse, at first 
small and fluttering, is at last imperceptible. (Howe 
on Emergencies.) 

Although this accident is ordinarily occasioned 
by remaining too long in the water, it may also be 
due to other causes. A sudden change in the 
weather, making reaction more difficult, is analogous 



54 SEA-BATHING. 

to a prolonged bath. Again, some may be attacked 
simply because bathing does not agree with them, 
the system being unable to sustain the shock. 

Any affection of the heart may be exaggerated by 
bathing, and produce syncope in a very serious 
form. I am well aware that physicians will forbid 
sea-bathing to sufferers from heart affections, but 
how great is the number of those who bathe without 
advice ! 

In this emergency, what treatment is advisable to 
better counteract the state of exhaustion ? 

It should vary according to its severity: if slight, 
fresh air and cold water on the face will be found 
sufficient. Sometimes frictions of vinegar on the 
temples and cheeks are necessary. Inhalations of 
stimulants, ammonia, etc. ; rubbing the soles of the 
feet, and especially the hollow of the foot, with a 
piece of flannel, either dry or soaked in any aroma- 
tic mixture. The patient may also be enveloped in 
woolen blankets or hot cloths. 

When consciousness begins to return, the friction 
on the body and the hollow of the foot should be 
renewed, and stimulants given. 



SEA-BATHING. 55 

CHAPTER VI. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

What we have said in the preceding chapters 
would be incomplete were we not to point out the 
necessity and importance of certain hygienic rules 
which should always accompany and even follow a 
season of sea-bathing. A first condition, favorable 
to the invalid who goes to the sea-shore, is the 
change itself. 

Long ago the Father of Medicine said : " In pro- 
longed diseases, change the climate. " Leaving 
behind the foul air of the city and the pernicious 
habits of town life —often also ceasing a medication 
that has been without results — the patient finds him- 
self in new conditions, with rest of mind and body. 
But to derive all the advantages of such a change, 
one needs, first of all, to become acclimated. Let 
it be understood at once that I am not discussing 
strong and vigorous organizations, especially adults, 
who, as a rule, scarcely experience any variation 
whether on the littoral or on land. But frail and 
delicate persons, children especially, need, during 
the first days, certain cares; for example, they 



56 SEA-BATHING. 

should not go to the beach in the evening after sun-, 
set, if the temperature be cold and foggy, and during 
the day they should not be taken there, if the winds 
are too violent or the air too cold. 

Sometimes an immediate departure from the sea- 
side is necessary in the case of young children who 
are nursing, upon whom the air often produces 
symptoms of nervous excitement, which disappear 
only by a change inland. 

The same phenomena of nervous excitement, met 
with in people of enfeebled constitutions, most gen- 
erally, however, find relief after a few days. 

But if from the first day no imprudence is com- 
mitted, and the health remains good, while becoming 
acclimated, the beneficial effects produced by the 
strong salt air is a powerful aid towards the favor- 
able results anticipated from sea-bathing. At the 
same time, to derive all possible benefits from the 
baths, it is necessary to conform to certain rules. 

In the first place, sleep itself must be regulated 
contrary to the habits of city life. One must not 
only retire early, but also rise early, as nothing is 
more favorable to health than a walk taken by the 
sea-shore early in the morning. 



SEA-BATHING. 57 

Any exercise, adapted to the health of the indi- 
vidual practising it, gives bodily strength, re-estab- 
lishes the equilibrium, stimulates the circulation, 
creates perspiration, and prevents the predisposition 
to a state of nervousness. Inaction, on the contrary, 
in diminishing the appetite, renders digestion so 
slow that, Httle by little, the relish for food is lost, 
and is only stimulated by a state of unnatural 
excitement. 

In the morning, then, a good brisk walk should 
be taken on the beach. During the day children 
may play around on the sand, breathing freely the 
pure fresh air of the sea. Some may ride on horse- 
back, others take long walks, always avoiding, of 
course, too much fatigue. 

Clothing should also be appropriate to the 
climate. Near the sea one should always wear 
more clothing morning and evening, as the temper- 
ature is always cooler than in the middle of the 
day. 

We must also give particular attention to alimen- 
tation. This part of the hygiene, on account of its 
importance, needs the greatest care. 

It is possible, indeed, to disregard its rules for 



58 SEA-BATHING. 

some time even, without serious injury, as habit 
often becomes second nature to us, whether good or 
bad ; but ultimately the stomach loses its vitality, and 
the long list of dyspeptic symptoms show themselves. 
As fast as the appetite gains, in the same degree 
alimentation may be increased, not forgetting, how- 
ever, that the stimulation produced by the sea-air 
and the baths, on the stomach, does not augment 
the power of digestion in the same ratio as the 
appetite is provoked. 

Physiologically considered, sea-baths are cold 
baths, but cold baths of a peculiar kind, for the 
water of the ocean has during the summer a temper- 
ature varying essentially according to the shore on 
which it breaks. This water being saline, is largely 
mineral, being besides possessed of a constant motion. 
By the reaction they determine to the skin, by the 
tone they impart to the whole economy, sea-baths 
place all the organs in condition to better fulfill 
their functions and give to the human frame the 
greater power of resisting the influence of other 
stimulants. Taken opportunely and with a sound 
discretion, sea-bathing furnishes the hydrothera- 
peutic agent in its greatest power. 



SEA-BATHING. 59 

Indeed, what must not be the power and efficacy 
of an agent which counts by thousands its votaries 
restored to health, and this, too, in spite of all the 
faulty opinions and ignorant methods of application, 
let alone that numerous class who despise its action 
as but inoffensive, solely because it is near at hand, 
within the reach of every one ? 

And yet who does not see every succeeding year 
the deplorable consequences of the irrational or 
empiric use of sea-bathing in a number of people 
who, so far from being cured or relieved of their 
complaints, have actually suffered an aggravation of 
them ? while others, strongly constituted and 
actually in the enjoyment of full health, after having 
taken a few baths simply for pleasure or pastime's 
sake, are reluctantly compelled to at last deny them- 
selves entirely the pleasure they find in sea-bathing. 
Might it not be argued that such individuals would 
be spared those unpleasant effects if sea-bathing 
were the innocent amusement, and at once the uni- 
versal panacea its unthinking advocates proclaim it ? 

It may be objected that many, not being ill when 
commencing to take sea-baths, do not necessarily 
become so by their use; we say this is an error. 



60 SEA-BATHING. 

Hippocrates himself it is who warns us that agents 
become salutary if disease has created certain mor- 
bid conditions in the individuals for whom they are 
intended, or hurtful if these conditions be not 
present. These distinctions are not at all rare ; we 
perceive their effects in the action of other thera- 
peutic agents, such as mineral springs, at which 
nothing is more common than to observe healthy 
persons drinking the waters with great detriment to 
their health, side by side with people debilitated by 
disease, and who for that reason can imbibe these 
same waters not only with impunity, but benefit. 
And this applies to sea-bathing as well. Some, by 
reason of their strong constitution, expose them- 
selves to a real danger. Others owe, not to the 
presence of a disease, since, perhaps, this does not 
exist in them, but to a congenital weakness which 
all possess to some degree, the advantage of being 
able to take sea-baths without suffering from them. 









BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



RESEARCHES 

ON THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE 

NERVOUS GANGLIONIC SYSTEM, 

AND THEIR 

APPLICATION TO PATHOLOGY. 



On the Cause, Prevention and Cure 

OF 

TUBERCULOUS PHTHISIS, 

Being thb Essay to which the Medical Society of 

the State of New York awarded the 

" Hiram: Corliss " Prize. 



OX CONSUMPTION, 

To which Essay was awarded the Gold Medal of the 
Alumni Association of the Medical Depart- 
ment of the University of New York. 



HYGIENE OF THE VOICE, 

Its Physiology and Anatomy. 



HORSEBACK RIDING, 

From a Medical Point of View. 



SEA-BATHING: 

Its Use and Abuse. 



By GHISLANI DURANT, M. D., Ph. D., 

Member of the American Medical Association, Member of the 

Medical Society of the County of New York, Fellow of 

the New York Academy of Medicine, etc. 



NEW YORK: 

Albert Cogswell, Publisher, 

No. 24 Bond Street. 

1878. * 



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